Swine Flu

After more than two months of being on high alert for flu activity, Hampton Roads health systems have dropped the mask advisory for people visiting their facilities. Community masking helps to contain the spread of the virus, as vaccines are not 100 percent effective and infected persons can transmit it as much as 24 hours before displaying any symptoms, according to Dale Gauding, a Sentara spokesman. The area-wide mask advisory went into effect on Jan. 7 and was lifted late last week. In a virtual mirror image of last year, the worst of the 2013-2014 flu season hit in the first few months of the year, but was abbreviated by a couple of weeks. The latest report from the Virginia...

Related "Swine Flu" Articles

After more than two months of being on high alert for flu activity, Hampton Roads health systems have dropped the mask advisory for people visiting their facilities.
Community masking helps to contain the spread of the virus, as vaccines are not 100...

The flu vaccine for the 2013/2014 season is now widely available — at drug stores, doctors' offices, health clinics, and military facilities. Accordingly, government health professionals are urging the public not to delay getting protection against the...

More than 1,700 volunteers participate in the Medical Reserve Corps in Hampton Roads, divided among eight units. The Corps, which has more than 12,500 volunteers statewide, supports public health in the community, working in conjunction with local offices...

Flu season has arrived early and several Southern states have already reported unusually extensive activity. In Virginia, too, it started a couple of weeks ahead of last year, according to the Health Department's surveillance data.
However, in the...

Flu season in the United States can begin as early as October and can continue through mid-May, with the highest concentration of cases occurring between December and April. Flu symptoms include headache, body aches, fever, fatigue, sore throat...

How prepared is Virginia for a bioterrorism attack or a new disease outbreak? In last year's annual report, "Ready or Not?" by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the state scored a nine out of 10 on indicators...

With several weeks or more remaining in a particularly deadly influenza season, U.S. health officials on Thursday urged flu vaccinations for everyone over the age of 6 months, including pregnant women.
"Influenza can make anyone very sick, very fast...

This flu season was “particularly hard” on relatively young patients across the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday.
The CDC’s early estimates fulfill the predictions by public health experts who said this...

After a slow start to flu season in Maryland, physicians and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say they are starting to see a jump in cases around the state.
Trish M. Perl, a professor of medicine and pathology at Johns Hopkins Medicine,...

This year's flu season got off to an early start, and public health officials are asking people to get their vaccinations to ward off a serious outbreak.State health officials announced the first confirmed case Oct. 3: a child in the Washington suburbs....

Even healthy children can come down with a case of the flu severe enough to cause death in a matter of days, according to a new report from researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In fact, children who were in good health...

A senior World Health Organization official announced that the United Nations agency would convene an emergency committee to plan for a possible escalation in illnesses caused by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, or MERS-CoV.
Dr....

Have a question for Dr. Blythe? Write to her at AskThePediatrician@tribune.com. For more information on Dr. Blythe, go to pediatricassociates.com.
April 29, 2013
Q: My 5-year-old daughter just had her adenoids and tonsils removed because of snoring...

In June 2009, my husband Sam and I slammed down the hatchback of our Honda CRV, the interior bulging with containers of Legos and books, school supplies and board games, and a box of shoes, a tin of Old Bay in the glove compartment. On the roof was a...

The worst may be over.
As of Jan. 12, leading indicators of flu activity in Chicago had dropped to early December levels, according to the latest data from the city Health Department, released Friday. However, the numbers remain significantly higher than...

It's flu season in Baltimore.
A few days after Christmas, Baltimore resident Kathleen Dudley began experiencing telltale signs of the flu — fever, chills, body aches, sore throat, cough and overall exhaustion.
"The worst part — the fever and chills...

Area hospitals are coping with a surge of patients with achy bodies, fevers and sore throats as the nation grapples with a flu season that has hit earlier and harder than usual.
The flu virus is unpredictable, so no one knows when the outbreak will...

In households with small children, flu symptoms are as routine as dirty socks. Take them seriously, though, warns a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), because the flu can kill healthy children within days.Among the 829...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An arsenal of hand sanitizers, hygiene education and good old-fashioned soap failed to prevent asthma attacks among school children in one Alabama county. For children with asthma, the common cold is the top trigger of...

Maryland has confirmed its first cases of seasonal influenza, state health officials announced Friday, several months earlier than last season.
Four children in the Baltimore region have laboratory-confirmed cases. One was hospitalized, but all are doing...